Menhaden fish oil improves spatial memory in rat pups following recurrent pentylenetetrazole-induced seizures

This study investigated the effects of two supplementary dietary oils (fish oil and corn oil) as parts of isocaloric/isoproteic diets on growth, brain fatty acid composition, and behavior in rat pups with recurrent seizures. Recurrent seizures were induced by injecting rat pups with pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) between P10 (10 days of age) and P14. Either menhaden fish oil (FO) or corn oil (CO) was given as supplemental dietary oil throughout the experiment from P3 to P40. We assessed the effects of the two supplemental dietary oils on spatial memory, histomorphology, and fatty acid composition of brain tissue at the end of the study on P40. Rats that received dietary FO performed significantly better in the Morris water maze, a test used to examine spatial performance in rats; the FO group had significantly shorter escape latencies (P = 0.041) during the escape test. Compared with the CO group, the FO group stayed a longer time (P = 0.015) and swam a longer distance (P = 0.033) in the target quadrant in the spatial probe test. The FO group had significantly higher brain docosahexaenoic acid (P ⩽ 0.01) and significantly lower brain C20:3 n-6 and C20:4 n-6 (P < 0.01 and P = 0.031) levels compared with the CO group, but the two groups did not differ significantly with respect to neuronal cell loss in the histomorphology study. This study demonstrated that, compared with CO, FO is better in improving spatial memory in rats following recurrent PTZ-induced seizures.